‘Antsy-pantsy’ Palmer stance will spell end for Palmer United: Lambie

CLIVE Palmer’s “antsy-pantsy” position on the Australian Defence Force pay deal could be the end of him, says Jacqui Lambie.

Illustration: Bill Leak

CLIVE  Palmer’s “antsy-pantsy” position on the Australian Def­ence Force pay deal could be the end of him, says Jacqui Lambie, who has escalated tensions within the Palmer United Party.

The rogue senator last night stepped up her extraordinary ­attack on the PUP leader, telling The Weekend Australian that if Mr Palmer failed to back her decision to reject every piece of government legislation “this could be the undoing of Palmer United”.

The Australian revealed yesterday that Senator Lambie would not support any government bills in the Senate — even if her PUP colleagues voted for them — unless Tony Abbott ­improved the below-inflation 1.5 per cent ADF pay increase.

“I think if he (Mr Palmer) sits on the fence with this … this will be the end of Palmer,” Senator Lambie said. “He won’t get re-elected, I’m only being honest. I’ve always said I’ll be honest. If he wants to be antsy-pantsy about it then ­Australian voters will pick him up on it. He needs to be strong and make a decision.”

Colleagues have rejected her demands. “The most effective way for PUP to achieve better outcomes for all Australians is to stick together as a team,” West Australian senator Zhenya Wang told The Weekend Australian.

“No politician always gets what he or she wants in the partyroom. Sometimes a step backward today may be necessary in order to take two steps forward tomorrow.”

While Senator Wang “fully supported a better pay deal for ADF personnel”, his electorate “wouldn’t want me to unnecessarily stall legislative processes in the parliament just because there’s one particular issue that I’m not happy with”.

“I’m sure ADF want the country they are defending to have a functioning parliament.”

Senator Lambie said she was willing to lose her position with PUP if it meant standing up for the ADF and veterans.

While she did not ­expect Mr Palmer to ask her to leave the party — “but you never know with Clive” — she would “respect his wishes” if he did so.

If Senator Lambie became an independent it would dilute PUP’s influence in the Senate. If she refuses to vote for government legislation Mr Abbott and his ministers will have to work harder to stitch ­together six of seven votes from the remaining crossbenchers.

Mr Palmer, along with Queensland PUP senator Glenn Lazarus, has dismissed Senator Lambie’s call for all Australians to turn their backs on any gov­ernment MP making a speech during Tuesday’s Remembrance Day ceremonies, “to show their disgust”.

Joe Hockey warned Senator Lambie that “threats don’t work with this government” and said that all Australians had to “live within our means”.

“If the government is hamstrung by Senator Lambie and others that are opposing a reduction in government expenditure then there’s certainly no money there to pay other people more,” the Treasurer said.